Uri Avneri: Twin Towers [en]
Lueko Willms
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To: International List <in...@gush-shalom.org>
From: Gush Shalom <in...@gush-shalom.org>
Subject: Twin Towers - article by Uri Avnery
Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2001 14:59:52 +0200
[We know that many of you read Uri Avnery's weekly articles on the
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Twin Towers
===========
Uri Avnery
15.9.01.
After the smoke has cleared, the dust has settled down and the initial
fury blown over, humankind will wake up and realize a new fact: there
is no safe place on earth.
A handful of suicide-bombers has brought the United States to a
standstill, caused the President to hide in a bunker under a far-away
mountain, dealt a terrible blow to the economy, grounded all aircraft,
and emptied government offices throughout the country. This can happen
in every country. The Twin Towers are everywhere.
Not only Israel, but the whole world is now full of gibberish about
"fighting terrorism". Politicians, "experts on terrorism" and their
likes propose to hit, destroy, annihilate etc., as well as to allocate
more billions to the "intelligence community". They make brilliant
suggestions. But nothing of this kind will help the threatened
nations, much as nothing of this kind has helped Israel.
There is no patent remedy for terrorism. The only remedy is to remove
its causes. One can kill a million mosquitoes, and millions more will
take their place. In order to get rid of them, one has to dry the
swamp that breeds them. And the swamp is always political.
A person does not wake up one morning and tell himself: Today I shall
hijack a plane and kill myself. Nor does a person wake up one morning
and tell himself: Today I shall blow myself up in a Tel-Aviv
discotheque. Such a decision grows in a person's mind through a slow
process, taking years. The background to the decision is either
national or religious, social and spiritual.
No fighting underground can operate without popular roots and a
supportive environment that is ready to supply new recruits,
assistance, hiding places, money and means of propaganda. An
underground organization wants to gain popularity, not lose it.
Therefore it commits attacks when it thinks that this is what the
surrounding public wants. Terror attacks always testify to the public
mood.
That is true in this case, too. The initiators of the attacks decided
to implement their plan after America has provoked immense hatred
throughout the world. Not because of its might, but because of the way
it uses its might. It is hated by the enemies of globalization, who
blame it for the terrible gap between rich and poor in the world. It
is hated by millions of Arabs, because of its support for the Israeli
occupation and the suffering of the Palestinian people. It is hated by
multitudes of Muslims, because of what looks like its support for the
Jewish domination of the Islamic holy shrines in Jerusalem. And there
are many more angry peoples who believe that America supports their
tormentors.
Until September 11, 2001 - a date to remember - Americans could
entertain the illusion that all this concerns only others, in far-away
places beyond the seas, that it does not touch their sheltered lives
at home. No more.
That is the other side of globalization: all the world's problems
concern everyone in the world. Every case of injustice, every case of
oppression. Terrorism, the weapon of the weak, can easily reach every
spot on earth. Every society can easily be targeted, and the more
developed a society is, the more it is in danger. Fewer and fewer
people are needed to inflict pain on more and more people. Soon one
single person will be enough to carry a suitcase with a tiny atomic
bomb and destroy a megalopolis of tens of millions.
This is the reality of the 21st century that started this week in
earnest. It must lead to the globalization of all problems and the
globalization of their solutions. Not in the abstract, by fatuous
declarations in the UN, but by a global endeavor to resolve conflicts
and establish peace, with the participation of all nations, with the
US playing a central role.
Since the US has become a world power, it has deviated from the path
outlined by its founders. It was Thomas Jefferson who said: No nation
can behave without a decent respect for the opinion of mankind. (I
quote from memory). When the US delegation left the world conference
in Durban, in order to abort the debate about the evils of slavery and
in order to court the Israeli right, Jefferson must have turned over
in his grave.
If it is confirmed that the attack on New York and Washington was
perpetrated by Arabs - and even if not! - the world must at long last
treat the festering wound of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which
is poisoning the whole body of humanity. One of the wise guys in the
Bush administration said only a few weeks ago: "Let them bleed!" -
meaning the Palestinians and the Israelis. Now America is bleeding. He
who runs away from the conflict is followed by it, even into his home.
Americans, and Europeans too, should learn this lesson.
The distance from Jerusalem to New York is small, and so is the
distance from New York to Paris, London and Berlin. Not only multi-
national corporations embrace the globe, but terror organizations do
so, too. In the same way, the instruments for the solution of
conflicts must be global.
Instead of the destroyed New York edifices, the twin towers of Peace
and Justice must be built.
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dem Gesichtspunkt der herrschenden Klasse oder der Klasse, die die
Herrschaft anstrebt." - Leo Trotzki (27. Januar 1932)